The BEST episodes of Da Vinci's Inquest season 1
Every episode of Da Vinci's Inquest season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Da Vinci's Inquest season 1!
Vancouver coroners, pathologists, and homicide detectives inhabit a murky world as they attempt to solve the mysteries behind the unnatural, accidental, or suspicious deaths committed in the city's back alleys and bedrooms. At times selfless, at times grudging, they all have agendas and histories, passion for their work, and ambition for their futures. Charismatic, controversial, and mercurial Vancouver Coroner Dominic Da Vinci is the pivot around which this complex world spins. As a spokesman for the dead, Da Vinci strives to give dignity to untimely death. For every issue he champions, there is the underlying knowledge of human frailty and a wry acknowledgment that his own personal and professional past is riddled with missteps. As a former undercover narcotics cop, he understands the realities of the street and the compromises cops sometimes make. He also knows the limitations that surround those who cut, collect, and expose the last secrets of a life lived, and the insights they can offer into death. Da Vinci's Inquest is a Canadian dramatic television series that aired on CBC Television from 1998 to 2005. Seven seasons of thirteen episodes each were filmed for a total of ninety-one episodes. The show, set and filmed in Vancouver, stars Nicholas Campbell as Dominic Da Vinci.
#1 - Gabriel
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/25/1998
When a street kid turns up dead on the dockside Leary is convinced that the young runaway was tortured to death by other kids and Sunny backs up his theory. The killing reminds Da Vinci of a tragedy in his past in which a police investigation proved fruitless. Determined not to let that happen in this case, Da Vinci pursues a suspect who may help him resolve whether police negligence was involved in the boy's death.
#2 - The Most Dangerous Time
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 12/2/1998
A noisy house party ends in tragedy when a fifteen-year-old teenager is found shot dead. Initially it looks like another death in a recent spate of teen suicides in Vancouver. Rumors soon start circulating around her school that she didn't fire the gun. As the teenagers close ranks Da Vinci, Leary, and Kosmo find it difficult to piece together a clear picture of the unpopular girl. The school counselor describes Jodie as an intelligent, hard-working loner, and a talented writer, whose only close friend was her sensitive, highly intense boyfriend Peter Florick. Jodie's brother, who owned the handgun, had previously warned Peter away from his sister and even Peter's classmates think he killed the girl. Troubled by his own ignorance of his teenage daughter Gabriella's friends and feelings, Da Vinci initiates a thorough investigation. The net tightens around Danny when a mobster's girlfriend, Summer, seems to be getting too close to Leon. It becomes suffocatingly tight when Leon confronts the undercover cop who has been tailing him.
#3 - The Capture (2)
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/3/1999
Da Vinci, Leary and Sunny are in Seattle at a conference, and are shocked to discover similar cases across the Pacific Northwest, that appears to include the death Da Vinci is currently working to solve.
#4 - Little Sister (2)
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/14/1998
Da Vinci reopens several cases, causing a further rift with his ex-wife.
#5 - Known to the Ministry
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/4/1998
Following a rash of fatal drug overdoses, Da Vinci learns that one of the dead addicts had an infant, who is missing. Manny, a police informer leads Leary, with new partner Angela Kosmo, to the woman's drug dealers. They arrest Todd and Sioux, and through them Larry discovers that the killer heroin came from a French-Canadian supplier who, along with his partner, was murdered, gang-execution style, just days previously.
#6 - The Hunt (1)
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/27/1999
Da Vinci, Leary, and Sunny are in Seattle attending an international Homicide Conference. A presentation by San Francisco-based FBI Special Agent Charlotte Turner turns up similar cases across the Pacific Northwest, and appears to include the death Da Vinci is currently working to solve. Turner comes to Vancouver and Da Vinci finds himself coordinating an investigation that has international implications. As more abductions/murders fit the pattern it seems that a couple, Dean and his wife Mona, are responsible. Joanna, a young woman who was abducted but managed to escape, leads Shannon and Leary back to the farmhouse where she was held and they arrest Dean. Mona, however, has managed to sneak across the border into the States and Da Vinci offers Danny a deal if he can find out where she is. Meanwhile Da Vinci finds himself struggling with the ethics of paying Dean for information about other victims.
#7 - The Quality of Mercy
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/28/1998
When television news reporter Hope Martin (Lynda Boyd) breaks a story about mercy killing, Detectives Leary and Shannon start digging around for more details, and Da Vinci calls a Coroner's Inquest to force Martin to reveal her source. The issue of euthanasia is divisive and as the investigation proceeds Da Vinci finds himself at odds with the police and his superiors about the reality and the ethics of what happened. His elderly father's recent debilitating stroke further complicates his response. Danny Leary is back in town, but the reunion with his older brother Mick is far from idyllic. It looks like he is hooked on drugs and, unbeknownst to Mick, hanging around with two hoods that turn up dead.
#8 - We All Fall Down
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 11/11/1998
The Coroner's office investigates the cause of a devastating fire at a seniors' care facility that left most of the residents dead and an elderly man missing. Arson or accident may have caused the fire but while he investigates with Chief Fire Investigator Henry Whiteside, Da Vinci uncovers evidence of abuse at the home. The harsh realities of caring for the elderly are brought into sharp focus by his own mother's increasing inability to care for his father alone. Mick's partner Kosmo and his brother Danny have struck up a friendship that has the potential for a romance. Danny's club looks like it might get off the ground, although his business partners appear to be mob-connected.
#9 - Final Chapter
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 1/13/1999
Patricia Da Vinci's career is on a high when she is asked to be a guest speaker at the prestigious Seattle Homicide Conference. Her presentation involves the recent case of the prostitute serial killer Charlie Josephs, who himself was found murdered. Her re-examination of the case leads to the discovery of several discrepancies and uncovers some new clues in Joseph's death, clues that seem to implicate the police. Sioux, who is now a police informant for Kosmo, implicates Danny in the drug trade and Kosmo is forced to examine her feelings for him.
#10 - The Stranger Inside
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/18/1998
When a young woman's dead body is dumped in an underground parking lot with no apparent signs of injury, Da Vinci and the police are intrigued. Patricia's autopsy turns up surprising answers and Da Vinci's investigation draws him into the world of S&M. Someone with a lot of power is trying to manipulate Chief Coroner James Flynn and Da Vinci into keeping the facts and the faces of those involved with Mistress Harriet hidden.
#11 - Little Sister (3)
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/21/1998
Da Vinci is convinced a serial murderer has been on the loose for years.
#12 - The Bridge
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/9/1998
Da Vinci has fallen off the wagon in a big way with a drunken evening at the police bar, which he can't remember. A homeless man is critically injured in a hit-and-run accident in the alley behind the bar on the same night, and Da Vinci comes under suspicion. All the enemies he's made over his career come out of the woodwork, anxious to see him implicated in the crime. Da Vinci's current investigation involves the discovery of a buried skeleton found beneath the Burrard Street Bridge. As Da Vinci struggles to piece together what happened to the homeless man, he stumbles on surprising insights into the Burrard Bridge death.
#13 - Little Sister (1)
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/7/1998
A young prostitute's body is retrieved from Vancouver Harbour, and Sunny notes striking similarities to a string of previous deaths. A chance comment to Da Vinci leads him to re-open several cases, causing a further rift with his ex-wife Patricia, who did the original autopsies, and with his boss James Flynn, who ruled the deaths as accidental.